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Don't mess with Texas? Texas better not mess with Talia Iris.

Bermuda's lone female san shou fighter made a sensational start to team Bermuda's build up to the World Championships by capturing a gold medal at the Legends Of Kung Fu Championships in Plano, Texas on Sunday. She squared off against the only other female competitor and forced her opponent's corner to throw in the towel in the first round after some devastating head shots sent her flying to the canvas.

The deciding blow took place after Iris' opponent throw a front kick and she countered with a straight right to the head that sent her opponent to the floor.

Sentwali Woolridge

Sentwali Woolridge competed in the 150-159 lbs division. He squared off against his international opponent from Spain requiring a translator for the judge's orders before the fight. The fight did not last long however after Woolridge took his opponent down hard after he tried to throw a front kick. He took him down with a body slam a second time forcing his opponent to give up for the TKO victory. Woolridge took the platform for his second fight some 20 minutes later and lost in a very controversial two rounds to nil decision. After losing the first round Woolridge came back in the last half of the second round with some great boxing shots to put his opponent in trouble and push him off the platform twice. Despite his dominance, two out of three ring judges ruled the round in favour of the opponent. This spurred the head referee to call the judges in for a meeting however the round was not overturned. Woolridge ended up with the bronze.

Garon Wilkinson

Garon Wilkinson took the mat next for Bermuda team in the 160-169 lbs by dominating his bigger, stronger opponent from the opening bell with a counter taking him to the mat. He went on to dominate the rest of the round with a number of punch kick combinations and managed to remain on his feet. He stamped his dominance in the second round by flooring his opponent with a front kick of the front leg and secured three points after the center referee indicated that this was a "clever" technique. He went on to dominate the rest of the round and was awarded the fight with a two rounds to 0 victory.

Khalid Pitcher

Wilkinson was due to fight his second match right after the match following his first fight however the chief judge allowed him a little more rest time and sent Bermuda's Khalid Pitcher in to fight in the 170-179 lbs. This was Pitcher's first overseas san shou match. Pitcher also had a much bigger opponent and landed some great jabs but failed to capitalize on this suffering a number of takedowns. Pitcher however did well enough to settle for the silver medal in his category.

Wilkinson returned to the ring after Pitcher's bout and once again dominated the opening round with great punch-kick combinations and eventually floored his opponent with the same front kick that sent his opponent to the canvas in the first match.

He was awarded the first round by the judges. As a result of fighting back to back fights, fatigue began to set in and Wilkinson was taken down once prompting the judges to award the second round to his opponent.

In the deciding third round Wilkinson continued to land combos however was taken down twice in the round forcing two out of three judges to rule the fight in his opponent's favour. Wilkinson settled for the bronze medal.

Reyel Bowen

Fighting last for the Bermuda team was young heavyweight Reyel Bowen also in his first overseas tournament. He used the ring extremely well landing a number of punches as well as a takedown. Bowen was awarded the first round and continued to dominate the second setting his opponent up for a devastating round house kick to the head that forced a standing 8-count and therefore the advantage to Bowen. The Bermuda fighter was able to capitalize on the damage he caused with his kick and dominated the rest of the round and was awarded the 2-0 victory.

Similar to Wilkinson, Bowen only had a few minutes to recover for his second match. He was able to dominate the first round however fatigue set in the next two rounds and his opponent landed a number of outside leg kicks however Bowen's efforts were good enough for the silver.

The Bermuda Team returned to Bermuda on Wednesday night with one gold, two silver, and two bronze medals.[[In-content Ad]]

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